


"Well Played"

by euphrosyna



Category: House RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 01:35:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euphrosyna/pseuds/euphrosyna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hugh is distracted at the table read. Written for Yuletide 2008 (and taking me waaaay out of my comfort zone!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	"Well Played"

Hugh Laurie sat with his head propped up in his hands and let his mind wander. He wasn't really at a read-through for the next episode of House. He was in his bed. In London - though, no, he didn't really care what bed. Bed in LA would be fine. Any bed. No alarm clocks. No 6am start. Just sleep. Heaven.

Katie Jacobs sat at the head of the table talking rapidly and with excitement: she was outlining the direction of the rest of the episode. Around the table sat his castmates: Lisa, very serious as she considered her own plotlines; Jennifer and Olivia, nearly as distracted as he was, giggling to each other but clearly still attending to some degree; Jesse and Omar, concentrating hard; Peter, doodling on his script, but listening intently; Robert, looking half asleep as usual; and Kal, his eager face bright as he took notes. The writers and producers sat interspersed among them, all, he noticed guiltily, looking much more interested than he was in what Katie was saying. He sat up straighter and attempted to make more of an effort to listen.

"So will we get started on today's read?" Katie finished up just as Hugh tuned in. "Hugh, it's you and Kal. Will we start there, do you think?"

"I… uh… yeah," Hugh said. He felt like a little boy caught not paying attention in class. He wondered if he looked at her if something in her face would give him a clue as to what "there" could mean. It didn't - and a quick glance around the table didn't help either.

"Come on, Hugh." She sounded slightly impatient but not overly so. More surprised really, as it wasn't like him to be inattentive. A couple of minutes out of five years wasn't a bad average though, he thought, refusing to let himself feel guilty. He caught Katie's eye again. No point walking into a fight though.

"I'm sorry, Katie," he apologised, in House's accent as he always did on set. "I'm not quite sure what scene you mean."

"It's…" she began, but Kal interrupted. "The scene with you and me breaking into the patient's house."

"Oh. Right." Hugh riffled through the pages.

Katie looked at Kal, opened her mouth and shut it again. Hugh vaguely registered David nudge her rather sharply in the ribs.

Kal was ready and waiting opposite him. Hugh cleared his throat, still flicking through his script.

"I don't suppose anyone will help me out and give me a page number? A scene number?" he asked.

"It's actually quite enjoyable seeing you struggle for once," Jennifer said detachedly.

"So the students become the masters," Hugh said with pretend arrogance, feigning annoyance. Where was the damn page? And why couldn't he remember even the beginning of the scene? He knew he'd only had a quick flick through but he'd done this for so long that usually he had lines memorised when he didn't even know he had.

He saw Katie's face crease into a frown and decided to improvise. He'd done this before when the script felt clunky and he wanted to make the words feel more natural, so he hoped it would feel like one of those times. He'd find the page before long and if Katie wasn't in a good mood, it'd be worth it not to rile her more. Holding his script up, so at least it looked like he was on the right page, he nodded his readiness to Kal.

"We still haven't established that it's environmental," Kal said as Kutner. An easy one to follow, Hugh decided.

"We haven't established that it's not," he said in House's raspy voice.

Kal mimed opening a door. "Whoah. Would you look at that stuff?!"

Hugh used the opportunity to turn over a few more pages. Still no scene.

"Yeah," he said weakly. "It's…" He racked his brain for something plausible. Improv had never really been his thing; Hugh was a fan of scripts. But surely he could do better than this?

Luckily Kal interrupted him. "Can you believe someone would just leave that stuff out in their hallway?" 'Stuff,' Hugh thought, trying to be rational but unable to ignore the rising sense of panic. 'What kind of stuff? Drugs? Bondage gear? Why did I start this?!'

"Beats watching TV." Hugh tried to sound like House, but, unsure that his words even made sense, knew he was failing.

"It's incredible, though! How can one person have so many…" Kal looked down at his script, although he'd previously seemed to know his lines by heart already. "…wind chimes!" he finished triumphantly.

'Wind chimes?!' Hugh thought desperately. There was an audible snort from Peter's direction. Hugh tried to tune him out.

"Uh… incredible but doesn't fit the symptoms, so irrelevant." Hugh struggled on, realising with each word how implausible he sounded. "I'll take the bedroom and you take the kitchen."

"Doesn't fit the symptoms?" Kal cried. "Of course it does! It's well documented that the sound of wind chimes can bring on an epileptic reaction in people of Arabic descent."

Jennifer choked on her water and excused herself rapidly.

"I… what?!" Hugh said, startled. He looked up from his script, which he was still trying to leaf through discreetly. "Really?!" He looked at Katie.

Katie gave up on her impassive face and spluttered. "Oh Hugh! For God's sake! Of course not really!"

Hugh looked at her, then Kal and the rest of the team, all of whom were laughing hysterically at this point.

"You were taking the piss?" He spoke in his own English accent for the first time that day.

Kal snorted with laughter. "You were so easy, man!"

"And you were all in on it? Was this planned?"

Kal shook his head. "Totally spur of the moment. Well, mostly. Omar and I were looking for a chance to mess with you for a while and couldn't figure out how to do it. I knew you'd no idea what was going on and it just came to me. When opportunity presents..." He looked around at the others. "Though I gotta say, the rest of you played along very well. Except Jenn." He looked around again, but Jennifer still hadn't returned. "Guys, should we check on her?"

Hugh wasn't sure if he was amused or annoyed.

"I can't believe you'd keep that up for so long," he said incredulously. "And I can't believe I bought it!"

"We're good, what can we say?"

"And modest too," Hugh noted.

"We learn from the best."

Hugh laughed suddenly. "Well played. You got me."

"And we got you to drop the accent," Kal said meaningfully - speaking to Hugh but looking at Omar.

Omar swore and passed Kal what looked like fifty dollars.

"I didn't mean to bet against you," Kal told Hugh. "But I like a challenge."

Hugh shook his head, at this point nearly as convulsed with laughter as the rest of the team.

"Alright guys, take five, I think," Katie said. Hugh was glad she was she was still smiling. He knew she was well aware that they hadn't gotten all that much - or any - work done. The cast got up and Hugh dug in his pocket for his cigarettes, hoping he'd have long enough to slip outside. Kal gave him a friendly punch on the arm as he passed.

"I'm sorry, dude, but that was funny."

Hugh narrowed his eyes, still laughing. "You better watch out, young Kal, that's all I have to say."


End file.
